PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers were back on the fields at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for practice Monday morning after a brief bye week.
To do that, though, the Steelers needed to get special permission from the NFL and the NFL Players Association. According to the collective bargaining agreement, players must be given four consecutive days off in a bye week; the Steelers had only three off days this past week.
"We always work on Mondays coming out of byes, but very rarely do we work on Thursday," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. "The issue for us last week was, we didn't know that we had a bye until we were at work on Thursday. So the PA and the league were considerate of those special circumstances, and they allowed us to stick to our schedule."
The Steelers held a shortened practice last Thursday, shortly after the NFL announced their Week 4 game against the Titans would be postponed until later in the season because of a COVID-19 outbreak within Tennessee's organization. Because news of the postponement came so late in the week, Tomlin said the bye week was productive. The Steelers didn't have as many injuries that needed to heal, but they were able to get a jump on planning for the Titans.
"We got a lot of good schematic work done at the top of the week in preparation for what we thought was a Tennessee Titans game," Tomlin said. "So we were able to put some of that preparation away and file it for later; obviously we'll get an opportunity to play those guys, and then we'll see how productive the bye week was in terms of things that we were able to -- plans that we were able to put in place and get around and utilize."
The Steelers were off Friday through Sunday but returned to the field Monday to maintain their usual game week schedule.
"It was an opportunity for us to pause, and take a global perspective on competition, and we were able to do that," Tomlin said of the break. "But equally as important, we were able to get some minor bumps and bruises handled, to allow guys to catch their breath -- if you will -- and get focused."
The time off allowed Pittsburgh to get back one of its top offensive contributors in wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who is officially cleared of the concussion protocol and will be a full participant in practice and Sunday's game.
The Steelers are less clear on the status of fullback Derek Watt (hamstring) and safety Marcus Allen (plantar fasciitis), but Tomlin said the two special teams players have done some running and their practice participation will determine Sunday's availability.
After the weekend off, the team practiced for a little less than two hours in their first day back.
"We did nothing special on Monday, yesterday," Tomlin said. "It's more general work for us, in terms of us getting acclimated and getting back to work after coming off of a weekend."